[subodh_iit]

Today, Mahip closed the MvB met DG thread. To Hell with political correctness. Tell me what are all those Happy Yippie B'day threads doing on PG. Shouldn't a single Happy B'day thread be sufficient.

On the contrary a thread that really belonged to Chit-Chat Genre was closed (later the decision was revoked but still the title was changed). I wonder why was it Okay an year back when some Mod started a thread titled An Interview with DG an year back. Now what happened?? I need an answer from Mahip, Apurv and Co.

It is good to start all those threads like how to retain Oldies and the stuff. But it is different to really have the will to implement good suggestions. The best suggestion will go straight into the bins of the minds of the Moderators and Admins.

There are 100 or so guys, who said PG should not deviate from its core competencies. What is the core competency?? CAT section. I wonder whether it is really. I visited it a total of 8-10 times if we leave out the GD/PI threads and IIM Results frozen thread. And so are many other ppl who visit here only to get the latest scoop when the results are delayed or some other sensational thing happens. If IIMs release their results on time and there are no controversies, PG (even the CAT section) will be visited by only a few regulars. Hard Reality!! Isn't it?? Well reality is always, unless we put goggles on our eyes.

And the only section that engrossed my interest and made me stay here for longer hours was Chit-Chat. Now when I first entered Chit-Chat 2-3 months back, there were 3-4 Happy B'day threads, 2-3 other useless threads, and only 1-2 really apt threads.

Then came the New Movement. Courtesy some users, Chit-Chat underwent a complete makeover. There are 5 serious discussion threads now. And hardly ever a useless thread remains on the first page. But the proponent of the Old Order took it as a personal affront. And enter the Dubious decisions, double standards, and unnecessary infractions.

Everyone fails to get the point here. It is not about Noobs and Oldies. Every other user will refrain from posting here as long as there is a coterie that only accepts views from inside and refuses to admit any outsider in its ranks. And I will suggest some steps that need to be taken in favorable light.


1. SPLIT OFF PaGaLGuY.com - The Everything of MBA and http://pagalguy.com/lounge
To address the Core Competency debate, Is it so difficult to split off the CAT forum and Lounge?? Why not have a http://pagalguy.com/lounge forum separate to that of CAT one. It is simple logic sans all those hi-fi Marketing funda that only applies to Cases of Past.

2. Allow better categorization of threads and do better moderation.
You saw the rush of MBA students at Summer Intern Tale. That only means that B-Schoolers do not post here because they find anything hardly stimulating, but they do visit. If content is allowed to remain the king, B-Schoolers will participate as much as Aspirants. Frankly speaking the thread deserves to be in Chit-Chat. But moderators are just too busy closing some harmless threads.
Tell me are threads like Great Indian Conundrum, Judiciary, Morality and Obscenity, TeleMarketing deserve to be in CHit-Chat. No?? And there have been enuf suggestions to make another section - Issues & General Discussion. Apparently no-one is listening.

One gentleman came with the suggestion that start a GD thread. We come here to participate in GD. Sounds too funny. Isn't it?

3. Encourage Newbies, not discourage them.
No comments.

I hope someone gives heed to these.

[shubhankar85]

Originally Posted by Plumber

2) Encouraging noobs:

This is of utmost importance. Somehow, noobies on this forum are always expected to follow extremely stringent standards, in terms of what kind of the threads should they open, what is the writing style they should adopt etc. Oldies & regular users have their own pre-concieved notions as to what this forum should be, and expect noobies to follow them. A brilliant post/thread by noobie is always judged by higher standards, by the non-noobies- who are also extreme "misers" when it comes to thanking their posts. This applies to most of us (including me)...we want the noobs to follow our diktats, because we think "he'a a noob...and we "know better than him""

A small number of noobs who have emerged so far in Lounge section have emerged, inspite of the "high-handedness" and "superiority-complexes" that oldies/regulars users display.

So coming to some solutions:

1) We identify atleast 2-3 talented noobs every month, and give them some incentives to become more regular-posters-like a noobie-rank or something. This will not only give the noob the confidence that people are reading/recognizing his posts, but also make him more attached to the forum.

Well... This is so true..as a newbie I had a pretty tough time just searching for a post where I could start contributing something... Many of the discussions had already been/were being dominated by the "senior" puys & what happens when u have limited number of posters all of whom fall under the "senior" category..?? The discussion keeps getting narrower & narrower and in some cases, remains limited to a mere debate between two (or not many more) differing thought groups...
In such cases...What would you expect a newbie to do..?? Go by the name of the thread & post something fresh on the topic which was (supposedly) to be discussed (Which, quite often isn't received with smiles & thank you's from the "senior" puys :()..?? Or post something based on what the "senior" puys have been discussing in order to appease them..?? Or (worst of all) take a break & keep waiting until a fresh thread starts where u can start off from scratch..??

I guess I was a bit lucky in that regard, broke the ice by making a few posts in the Cricket (Sachin & World Cup) threads & the Harry Potter thread.. Guys like Cyborg, Subodh, TintinAndSnowy were very appreciative of whatever I wrote & thats what got me hooked into PG .. Believe me, a word of appreciation to a newbie who deserves it makes a BIG difference..you dont even need to offer prizes or ranks or whatever

As for all the discussions on the content & quantity of threads which deserve to be in Chit-Chat but for some reason also make the mods go nuts... From a newbie point of view, I will just add this...
If more & more "so-called insignificant" threads are either closed (which of course entirely eliminates newbie participation) or merged with some other existing thread... What signals would this send out to the newbies..?? Not many would actually think they have the b**ls to start a thread or post anything outta the ordinary.
Besides, merging more & more threads just makes following a particular thread that much more difficult..!!!!!!

[BUGS BUNNY]

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Today, Mahip closed the MvB met DG thread. To Hell with political correctness. Tell me what are all those Happy Yippie B'day threads doing on PG. Shouldn't a single Happy B'day thread be sufficient.

Aah the ole why do we need the happy budday thread question?
Time and again it has been said that wishing a member of PG a happy birthday is to make him/her feel special. Now I know you are gonna say that this thread was started with the same purpose Point taken

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

On the contrary a thread that really belonged to Chit-Chat Genre was closed (later the decision was revoked but still the title was changed). I wonder why was it Okay an year back when some Mod started a thread titled An Interview with DG an year back. Now what happened?? I need an answer from Mahip, Apurv and Co.

Hmmm the question is why start a new thread? Could this not have been posted in some existing thread? If i had to take a guess over why a new thread was opened, then it would be to gain as much attention as possible. Now the reply to that would be even if Plumber had posted it in an existing thread even then the regulars would get to know about it
The post was good no doubt about that. But did it warrant a new thread?? Hmmm opinions might differ on that point.

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

It is good to start all those threads like how to retain Oldies and the stuff. But it is different to really have the will to implement good suggestions. The best suggestion will go straight into the bins of the minds of the Moderators and Admins.

Care to elaborate on that? :whatthat:

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

There are 100 or so guys, who said PG should not deviate from its core competencies. What is the core competency?? CAT section. I wonder whether it is really. I visited it a total of 8-10 times if we leave out the GD/PI threads and IIM Results frozen thread. And so are many other ppl who visit here only to get the latest scoop when the results are delayed or some other sensational thing happens. If IIMs release their results on time and there are no controversies, PG (even the CAT section) will be visited by only a few regulars. Hard Reality!! Isn't it?? Well reality is always, unless we put goggles on our eyes.

Actually, I believe its you who needs to wake up and smell the coffee
You think n00bs visit the CAT section only when something sensational happens? I suggest you hang around here on PG for one more year and I dont think IIMs will delay their results next year. Perhaps then you might see that people dont come on PG just when something sensational happens

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

And the only section that engrossed my interest and made me stay here for longer hours was Chit-Chat. Now when I first entered Chit-Chat 2-3 months back, there were 3-4 Happy B'day threads, 2-3 other useless threads, and only 1-2 really apt threads.

2-3 useless threads? engrossed your interest? :huh:
All of these are your own views right? :dontgeti: How can you say that everyone found those threads to be useless? or the other 2-3 threads to be apt??

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Then came the New Movement. Courtesy some users, Chit-Chat underwent a complete makeover. There are 5 serious discussion threads now. And hardly ever a useless thread remains on the first page. But the proponent of the Old Order took it as a personal affront. And enter the Dubious decisions, double standards, and unnecessary infractions.
Everyone fails to get the point here. It is not about Noobs and Oldies. Every other user will refrain from posting here as long as there is a coterie that only accepts views from inside and refuses to admit any outsider in its ranks. And I will suggest some steps that need to be taken in favorable light.

Again you are trying to pass off a personal opinion as a generalization
What do you categorize as useless? To me those serious threads that you talk about are useless cos I find them boring Does that mean I get to pass a judgment??
Old Order?? Dubious Decisions? views from inside??:eh:
Who is differentiating here? It is very easy to point fingers at others, isnt it?

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

1. SPLIT OFF PaGaLGuY.com - The Everything of MBA and http://pagalguy.com/lounge
To address the Core Competency debate, Is it so difficult to split off the CAT forum and Lounge?? Why not have a http://pagalguy.com/lounge forum separate to that of CAT one. It is simple logic sans all those hi-fi Marketing funda that only applies to Cases of Past.

And what data are you basing this simple funda on?? How do you know that the lounge once separated from the main forum will attract more n00bs?? Could it not be possible that the same ole users post in the lounge even in that scenario??

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

2. Allow better categorization of threads and do better moderation.
You saw the rush of MBA students at Summer Intern Tale. That only means that B-Schoolers do not post here because they find anything hardly stimulating, but they do visit. If content is allowed to remain the king, B-Schoolers will participate as much as Aspirants. Frankly speaking the thread deserves to be in Chit-Chat. But moderators are just too busy closing some harmless threads.
Tell me are threads like Great Indian Conundrum, Judiciary, Morality and Obscenity, TeleMarketing deserve to be in CHit-Chat. No?? And there have been enuf suggestions to make another section - Issues & General Discussion. Apparently no-one is listening.

Aah getting the oldies to participate. Look the simple thing is people move on. Not everyone wants to/likes to spend time on PG even after they get into a b school. And for those who have a certain level of attachment with the forum will post anyway. Look at anandv/ DG for example

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

One gentleman came with the suggestion that start a GD thread. We come here to participate in GD. Sounds too funny. Isn't it?

Hmm maybe my sense of humour isnt what it used to be
The point was not to make the people participate in a GD or to make the thread look like GD. If i am wrong chuck can correct me on this, but I think what Chuck meant was people could go through threads , read different point of views and as these threads were serious and useful ( like you said earlier ) the topics would obviously be contemporary. So it would be of help to people in GDs

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

3. Encourage Newbies, not discourage them.
No comments.

Whom are we talking about here? If n00bs werent encouraged, you wouldn't have seen the membership base grow exponentially year after year

P.S.Been a long time since I made such a long post

-
Bugs

[nikhilkulk]

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Today, Mahip closed the MvB met DG thread. To Hell with political correctness. Tell me what are all those Happy Yippie B'day threads doing on PG. Shouldn't a single Happy B'day thread be sufficient.

why are the birthday threads always the first ones, when it comes to finger-pointing? As i have said earlier many times as well PG is not just a forum, its a community. And thats the reason the birthday threads will stay no matter what. I remember reading somewhere that there was this guy for whom the only wishes he got that day was through the PG thread. Beat that. So theres more to it than what meets the eyes at least your eyes

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

It is good to start all those threads like how to retain Oldies and the stuff. But it is different to really have the will to implement good suggestions. The best suggestion will go straight into the bins of the minds of the Moderators and Admins.

And what exactly is a good suggestion? If you would have followed this forum closely you would have realised that so many of the suggestions of users have indeed been incorporated. But if we get down implementing ALL and sundry suggestions, the case will not be much different from *Bruce Almighty* where Jim Carrey fulfills all goddamn wishes of everyone. get the drift?

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

There are 100 or so guys, who said PG should not deviate from its core competencies. What is the core competency?? CAT section. I wonder whether it is really. I visited it a total of 8-10 times if we leave out the GD/PI threads and IIM Results frozen thread. And so are many other ppl who visit here only to get the latest scoop when the results are delayed or some other sensational thing happens. If IIMs release their results on time and there are no controversies, PG (even the CAT section) will be visited by only a few regulars. Hard Reality!! Isn't it?? Well reality is always, unless we put goggles on our eyes.

Woah! Now this is a shocker. Maybe you need to check whether you have the right goggles on? Take a look anytime at the forum homepage at the figures and you will see if X people are viewing Chit-Chat, not less tha 5X people will be viewing the CAT section even by conservative approach. And its not about sensatlionism or results, right from the cat notifiction is out to college starts, the CAT section is choc-a-bloc with visitors.It faces a termporary lull of a few months, but then there is the prep section which is active at that time, and more than chit-chat if i may add

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

And the only section that engrossed my interest and made me stay here for longer hours was Chit-Chat. Now when I first entered Chit-Chat 2-3 months back, there were 3-4 Happy B'day threads, 2-3 other useless threads, and only 1-2 really apt threads.

For some the threads that we have right now are useless. what do yo usya to that? You ask why dont people post in chit-chat..So that can be a reason can't it. The threads that we have may be viewed by many as utter boring and useless. But you wont buy that would you? So lets keep this useless and apt thing aside? dont generalise

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Then came the New Movement. Courtesy some users, Chit-Chat underwent a complete makeover. There are 5 serious discussion threads now. And hardly ever a useless thread remains on the first page. But the proponent of the Old Order took it as a personal affront. And enter the Dubious decisions, double standards, and unnecessary infractions.

French revolution eh? what if i dont want the serious discussions? and to say that serious discussions were absent before the new movement of yours started would be really kiddish And once again who defines useless or useful? Its not about old front or new front, if i am not wrong all that was said was use the generalised threads for discussion rather than opening a new thread everyday and i don't see anything wrong in that. Regarding the infraction on plumber, well did he deserve it did he not is again a point of contention. And its not like he was banned or something.

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Everyone fails to get the point here. It is not about Noobs and Oldies. Every other user will refrain from posting here as long as there is a coterie that only accepts views from inside and refuses to admit any outsider in its ranks.

I don't know about others, but I dont post in these thread if yours because they don't interest me. I don't want to discuss whether a alistair or whoever he is deserves what kind of sentence. I would rather spend the time on SB relaxing from my hectick work schedules and other vagaries of life

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

1. SPLIT OFF PaGaLGuY.com - The Everything of MBA and http://pagalguy.com/lounge
To address the Core Competency debate, Is it so difficult to split off the CAT forum and Lounge?? Why not have a http://pagalguy.com/lounge forum separate to that of CAT one. It is simple logic sans all those hi-fi Marketing funda that only applies to Cases of Past.

Maybe can be done. But again just starting off a few threads in what a period of less than a month warrants a new section? As you yourself have mention about what 1o - 15 posters post in these threads? so we create a new section for them? and you seriously think that just because you have a seperate section the participation in these threads would increase?

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

2. Allow better categorization of threads and do better moderation.
You saw the rush of MBA students at Summer Intern Tale. That only means that B-Schoolers do not post here because they find anything hardly stimulating, but they do visit. If content is allowed to remain the king, B-Schoolers will participate as much as Aspirants. Frankly speaking the thread deserves to be in Chit-Chat. But moderators are just too busy closing some harmless threads.

I hope you have read the post by B-schoolers especially from some of your favourite posters on the thread *How to retain old members* That should answer this point

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

Tell me are threads like Great Indian Conundrum, Judiciary, Morality and Obscenity, TeleMarketing deserve to be in CHit-Chat. No?? And there have been enuf suggestions to make another section - Issues & General Discussion. Apparently no-one is listening.

Enough suggestions??? If i am wrong this point only came off a few days back when we were on SB. Again refer above about my views on creating new sections

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

One gentleman came with the suggestion that start a GD thread. We come here to participate in GD. Sounds too funny. Isn't it?

Maybe you and I don't but yes some people do. Proof: Some of the very succesfull online GD threads we had in the past. Will dig up some links for you if you want

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

3. Encourage Newbies, not discourage them.
No comments.

I dont buy this thing. So yes No Comments from me too l

]

[grondmaster]

Somehow I feel that I enter discussions with people who've put in blinders over their eyes and are refusing to see the views of others. But at the same time, I forget that I too have blinders over my own eyes and I am unable to see their views.

Well, for all you people who wish to see a sea change in PG... tell me one core thing... what is the core competency of PG? Support to MBA Aspirants. Now, what will you achieve by splitting and getting two sections called pg.com/mbaforums and pg.com/lounge? Nothing. Each and every forum has a section for pastime, for those who're vela but deeply involved in the core sections of the forum. For everyone, this pastime section gives a chance to chill out with the same set of people who they interact with in a much more serious/professional manner on other sections. Now, to take it very seriously is not in the right sense.

Lounge is not a core activity for PG, and niether should it be. It is there as an offshoot, a byproduct, a place to let off steam, so to speak. Let it be. You don't need to expand it, rather, a lot of self control and self-moderation is the need of the hour. Why? Because, there is a new penchant for opening threads of issues that matter to us. Whether they matter to a lot of people out there or not is not the issue - it matters to us. So open a thread. But then, what happens to the forum? Then, you complain that the mods are being unfair to us.

Birthday threads - understand, next year, Plumber & Subodh will have birthday threads - if htey've declared them, that is - because they have made a strong enough impact on the forum. The year after that, Subhankar will too - I see a lot of potential in that member to influence many puys. I got my birthday thread six months into my membership... I feel grateful to whatsoever responsible that I was good enough to influence that many members.

I put in a picture of Alexa.com's graphical monitoring of 3 sites: PG, CoolAvenues and IMS India - for comparision over the last 6 months. You'll find two major spikes in both PG & IMS: November & Jan: CAT & CAT results. But still, you'll see that post that phase, the overall hits have gone down a lot. Why? Because people just don't visit the sites. Why? Because they don't need to. As simple as that. Why keep flogging a dead mare? She'll come alive later again, no need to waste your energy.



I hope you guys stop this needless discussion going nowhere. Do you really think that you are the first people to get these ideas? I don't think so. Many of us already have done a lot of thinking on this - some of it has been implemented, others that weren't good enough have been put aside. But at all times, your feedback is welcome. Just don't stretch too overlong on it.

Regards,
Grondmaster

[chuck_gopal]

Subodh: As usual, an excellent post. Just a couple of things:

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

There are 100 or so guys, who said PG should not deviate from its core competencies. What is the core competency?? CATsection. I wonder whether it is really. I visited it a total of 8-10 times if we leave out the GD/PI threads and IIM Results frozen thread. And so are many other ppl who visit here only to get the latest scoop when the results are delayed or some other sensational thing happens. If IIMs release their results on time and there are no controversies, PG (even the CAT section) will be visited by only a few regulars. Hard Reality!! Isn't it?? Well reality is always, unless we put goggles on our eyes.

These days you don't see too much action on the CAT threads because, well, there is no CAT happening :whatthat:

Just see the flurry of activity the nanosecond a "____ 2007 - 2009 results out!" thread is started. On the eve of the proposed CAT results... You should have seen the burgeoning list of PGites online... 1600 something! It's sacriligeous to say that the CAT section in PG does not attract people...! Dude!!!! PG thrives on the CAT section.
Okay, think of it this way... Compare the two sections before and after CAT.

Pre CAT: The QQAD thread, the DIQAD thread, the Number Theory thread, the verbal resources... ALL were rollickin' totally... And they were not inane posts... People actually took pains and efforts to post - and THIS material, dude, is the USP of PG, to be frank. This is why the average 'guest' comes to PG.

Post CAT: Did the euphoria die down? No! Look at the CAT analysis threads, and the other exam thread. When the GDs drew near - hell, just look at the dream team thread! Granted - only a few people post here. But juxtapose this with the number of people who post in the chit-chat section. It's natural. There may be people out there with better opinions, but who would shy away from posting. Imagine the fun if all 1,00,000 felt dispossesed to reply to a post

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

And the only section that engrossed my interest and made me stay here for longer hours was Chit-Chat. Now when I first entered Chit-Chat 2-3 months back, there were 3-4 Happy B'day threads, 2-3 other useless threads, and only 1-2 really apt threads.

Chit-chat should remain that. Chit-chat. A place to free your mind and discuss relatively lighter topics like football, books and music (Disclaimer: 'relatively' )
I'm not against the topics that you, Plumber and m_f have brought up. They are really good - but somehow seem out of place in a section where people just wanna chill out. Well, this is my perspective. Seeing something that looks like a GD topic to me in a place where I usually like talking about Dickinson's operatic voice and PGW's quotes seems disconcerting to me.

Originally Posted by subodh_iit

On the contrary a thread that really belonged to Chit-Chat Genre was closed (later the decision was revoked but still the title was changed). I wonder why was it Okay an year back when some Mod started a thread titled An Interview with DG an year back. Now what happened?? I need an answer from Mahip, Apurv and Co.

An actual interview is different from a satire, please understand.
Er, I'm not sure if the thread you stated was a satire itself... If it was, consider that last line null and void

Originally Posted by BUGS BUNNY

Hmm maybe my sense of humour isnt what it used to be
The point was not to make the people participate in a GD or to make the thread look like GD. If i am wrong chuck can correct me on this, but I think what Chuck meant was people could go through threads , read different point of views and as these threads were serious and useful ( like you said earlier ) the topics would obviously be contemporary. So it would be of help to people in GDs ;-)

Let the 'gentleman' himself clarify ;-)
Yes, that was the basic purport of what I was going to say. This way we have a section to start discussing proper topics. Even as of now, we don't have a proper place to discuss some things and threads to get locked.

Originally Posted by BUGS BUNNY

Whom are we talking about here? If n00bs werent encouraged, you wouldn't have seen the membership base grow exponentially year after year

Disagree. Noobs do not run a how-are-noobs-treated before deciding to join. Yes, the general weltenschauung of the forum towards others would be gauged - but not too many noobs would know the difference between who is a veteran pagal and who is a newbie.

I agree noobs do get some end of the stick while opening threads. And probably experienced people would get away with this. To put it in very Plumberian terms, why don't the mods swoop down and close THESE threads? I was particularly shocked to see a 'Welcome People with Long Hair' thread posted by one of the most respected PG members - and the thread was let to live. I was wondering, if a newbie had opened a thread like this, what are the chances that a MG sitting on a red shirt with 'MBA' sprawled over it would immediately instruct the person to read the rules (like he will!) and to run a search before opening a thread

It's almost something like more famous people get attention no matter what they do.

To make a terrible analogy, if I had written a song with the lyrics, "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now.", people would have questioned my state of inebriatedness. But because Robert Plant wrote it, people thought it actually meant something and Stairway to Heaven became legendary.

Like a Sportstar article about Anna Kournikova said: Celebrity has a way of feeding on itself, and propelling itself to greater heights

PS: No hard feelings at anyone. Totally my own views

ChUcK

ChUcK

[kill_the_cat]

*BUMP*

Puys pour in your views about this. Both oldies and nebies please post suggestions about how the lounge section can be improved?

Thanks

[QuintEssence]

Originally Posted by kill_the_cat

*BUMP*

Puys pour in your views about this. Both oldies and nebies please post suggestions about how the lounge section can be improved?

Thanks

change the ridiculous search before you post philosophy. encourage people to write stuff their own way, even if it means a hundred new my fav movie threads. There's just too much structure here - do this, do that, play here and not there; but not enough sandboxes look at the way the forum was when there were <1k users. All sorts of email forwards became one post wonders. which was fine, because you needed participation.

One wonders, if that's also not the case now. it's like Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink; members, members everywhere...(some smart alec can continue here)